making the earth move · which forecasts us diesel sales of just under 1.2 million units in 2012....

RICARDO QUARTERLYREVIEW

High and mightyHUMMER chooses Ricardo to support the engine upgradeprogramme for its iconic H1 Alpha

Shifting gearsRicardo’s transmissionbenchmarking programme

InterviewsTroy Clarke, President,

GM Asia Pacific

Joe Bakaj, head of R&D and product planning, Mazda

EARTH MOVEConstruction machinery legend JCB works with Ricardo to develop its own in-house engine

MAKING THE

Q3,

200

5

55368 RQ 28PP 14/7/05 10:52 am

Head office:Ricardo plc, Shoreham-by-Sea,West Sussex, BN43 5FG, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1273 455611

Ricardo contacts and locations:www.ricardo.com/contacts RQ subscriptions: www.ricardo.com/rq Sales enquiries:[email protected]

Conceived and produced for Ricardo by:TwoTone Media Ltd Editor:Tony Lewin Contributors: Jeremy Burne, Mark Roberts, Julian Rendell, Anthony SmithTwoTone Media Ltd contacts:Anthony Smith: [email protected] Tony Lewin: [email protected]

ContentsRICARDO QUARTERLYREVIEW Q3, 2005

RICARDO QUARTERLYREVIEW

08

06 22

news

04 Industry newsNew-generation diesel injectors promise major benefits;Toyota targets $50,000 fuel cell car; US dieselbreakthrough predicted; BMW dominates engine awards

24 Ricardo newsEnglish Heritage unveils blue plaque outside Sir HarryRicardo’s London home; global NVH operationsintegrated; Ricardo Diesel Report forecasts big USexpansion

questions and answers

06Troy ClarkeGM’s Asia Pacific president is in charge of the world’sfastest-growing region. He talks to Julian Rendell aboutthe realities of making cars and doing business in China

22 Joe BakajAs head of R&D and product planning at Mazda, Bakajhas helped hone a world-class product developmentprocess that is being adopted by the Ford groupworldwide.Tony Lewin learns the secrets

features

08 More power to the HUMMERThe mighty HUMMER H1 receives an engine upgrade,with Ricardo as powertrain systems integrator. Jeremy Burne documents a programme that was farmore extensive than the new Alpha version’s unchangedappearance would suggest

14 JCB builds its own engineThe bright yellow machines of the determinedlyindependent UK-based excavator firm have becomesomething of a world legend. AsTony Lewin reports,JCB’s managers turned to Ricardo when they wanted tobreak away from industry convention and develop theirown series of engines

20 Shifting with the bestTransmissions have become a key selling point inmodern cars – but how can a carmaker be confident hissystem is up with the best? Ricardo has the answer, asAnthony Smith reports

14

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

pressures stillfurther to anunprecedented 2500 bar.

The new technologyhas the significant parallel

advantage of allowing common railsystem pressure to drop back to 1350bar, the peak pressure beinggenerated only in the injector itself.Moving between today’s 1600-barsystems and the 2500-bar HADIsystem will allow a cut of up to 20 percent in NOx and PM emissions,according to Dohle.

Further enhancements have beenmade to Bosch’s unit injectors, too, asecond actuator now allowing up tofive injections per cycle as well asinjection pressures up to 2200 bar.

Industry News

New

s in

brie

f Japanese gain in productivityToyota’s North American plants haveovertaken those of Nissan in terms ofproductivity but the US Big 3 are stillposting gains, according to the 2005Harbour Report. Nissan’s facility hasbeen undergoing a model changeover.

Saab begins supplying AlcokeySaab is embarking on a field trial ofits Alcokey ignition interlock systemwith private customers. Users’ breathsampled through the key-fobmouthpiece must undercut legalalcohol limits before the car will start.

Connaught develops V10 hybridUK engineering partnershipConnaught has announced a 2+2sports concept using a 2.1 litregasoline V10 engine and a 48V batterysystem with regenerative energystorage via supercapacitors.

04 RICARDO QUARTERLY REVIEW • Q3, 2005

Major reductions in NOx andparticulate matter emissions arepromised by new common rail dieselinjection systems, says Dr UlrichDohle, head of diesel systems atBosch, the world’s largest automotivecomponents supplier.

Bosch’s 3.2 system, due next year,will give 1800-bar injection pressures,while an enhanced 3.3 version, setfor start of production in 2007, willyield 2000 bar. These systems willallow many vehicles to achieve theanticipated Euro 5 emissions

Diesel and hybrid models will accountfor 11 per cent of US light vehicle salesby 2012, according to a study by JDPower and Associates. Today’s share isjust 4.8 per cent: by 2012 some 44hybrid and 26 diesel models areexpected to be on sale, says Power.

The bullish forecast ties in stronglywith the predictions of the 2005Ricardo Diesel Report (see page 26)which forecasts US diesel sales of justunder 1.2 million units in 2012.

Hybrids, which JD Power says will

US: breakthrough predicted for diesels and hybridsexpand seven-fold to take 3.5 per centof US sales by 2012, were given afurther boost as Toyota announced itwould build hybrid versions of itsCamry – the best-selling car in theNorth American market – at its factoryin Kentucky. Planned annual capacityfor the hybrid Camry is 48,000 unitsand, initially at least, the hybriddrivetrain will be imported from Japan.

Toyota is already experiencingstrong demand for its Prius hybridsaloon and its premium hybrid SUV,

Volvo is demonstrating an FM truckequipped with an engine running ondimethyl ether (DME), a promisingrenewable fuel that can be producedfrom biomass or paper pulp by-products. “We believe DME can be anexcellent fuel for future commercialtransports,” said Volvo CEO LeifJohansson. “We know that in 20years alternative fuels will becomeincreasingly commercially viable.”

Among alternative fuels DME hasthe highest energy efficiency and isamong the lowest in CO2, NOx andparticulate emissions, says Volvo.

the Lexus RH400h. This comes despitewell-publicised incidents of the Priusstalling and Toyota’s incoming R&Dhead, Kazko Okamoto saying therewas no financial justification forbuying fuel-efficient cars in the US,where energy prices were so low.

Okamoto wants to reduce the on-cost of hybrids to a level where theycan match standard cars oneconomics by 2010 – by which timeToyota expects to be making 1 millionhybrids a year.

standardswithout the

need for NOx-reduction measures.

The big step will comein 2008 with the release of

the novel HADI (HydraulicallyAssisted Diesel Injector). This fourth-generation system uses hydraulicamplification to boost injection

Fourth-generation dieselclaims major benefits

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

Mazda joins steel, aluminiumA new method of joining steeland aluminium has beendeveloped by Mazda. Usingfrictional heat from a specialspinning tool, the two metals joineffectively.

CNG best way of cutting CO2

Compressed natural gas is themost effective way of reducingCO2 emissions, according to Fiatengine research director RinaldoRinolfini, quoted in AutomotiveNews Europe.

UK’s CO2 abatement planBritish energy minister MalcolmWicks has proposed a novel carbonabatement plan which involvescapturing CO2 emissions andstoring them in depleted oil andgas fields under the North Sea.

China’s technology potentialAlmost half of all universitydegrees granted in China lastyear were in engineering,according to Jaguar CEO JoeGreenwell. This compares withjust 5 per cent in the US.

The task of RQ is to highlight the latestthinking in automotive engineering andtechnology worldwide – both withinRicardo and among other leadingcompanies. By presenting an up-to-datemix of news, profiles and interviews withtop business leaders we paint aninteresting and exciting picture of R&Dactivity at a world-class automotiveengineering services provider.

It is a formula that has certainly been ahit with the worldwide automotivecommunity: in the four years since RQwas launched we have had to increaseour print run to 14,000 copies to keeppace with the demand to read aboutRicardo and its activities.

Client confidentiality is of the utmostimportance to Ricardo, which means thatwe can only report on a small fraction ofthe work carried out by the company. Sowe are especially grateful to thoseRicardo customers who have kindlyagreed to co-operate with RQ and allowtheir programmes to be highlighted inprint: without such help from customers itwould not be possible to present such afascinating insight into the way vehiclesare conceived and developed.

RICARDOQUARTERLYREVIEW

Q3, 2005 • RICARDO QUARTERLY REVIEW 05

With its high-revving, F1-inspired five-litre V10 taking the awards for bestnew engine, best performance engineand best over four-litre engine as wellas the overall International Engine ofthe Year title, BMW reinforced itsdomination of the 2005 Engine of theYear voting.

The German company camesecond overall, too, with its high-

performing three-litre twin turbodiesel straight six, fitted to the 535d,while the 3.2 litre gasoline six fromthe M3 enjoyed an unprecedentedfifth year as top engine in the three- tofour-litre category.

Honda, always a strong performerin the engine awards, took the underone-litre award for the sixth year withits three-cylinder IMA hybrid, andretained the 2.0 to 2.5 litre class withits Accord diesel. Fiat-GM’s 1.3 litreMultijet diesel took the 1.0 to 1.3 litreclass, with the Toyota Prius taking the

class above.Significant in 2005 was the

presence on the shortlists of nofewer than six hybrids: three fromHonda, including the new 3.0 V6

fitted to the US Accord, the 1.5 Priusand 3.3 litre V6 from Toyota, and the

2.2 litre Ford Escape Hybrid,which came third in its class.

Toyota is aiming to slash the cost ofa fuel-cell car by 95 per cent by 2015,bringing the price down below the$50,000 barrier by the time itshydrogen-powered models beginappearing in series production.

The target was announced byKazuo Okamoto, Toyota’s new headof R&D, in an interview in theFinancial Times. Toyota has in thepast been reluctant to indicatetimetables for the introduction ofnew technologies.

The announcement came asJapan’s ministry of transport hadgranted full type approval to its

FCHV, the first time such consenthas been given to a fuel-cell model.Shortly afterwards, Honda’s FCXfuel-cell vehicle model was alsogranted approval.

Limited numbers of Toyota’sKluger V-based FCHV have beencontracted to leasing customers. Thenew version, which has improvedhydrogen storage and greaterperformance and range,is available for

¥ 1.05 million ($9500) a month.General Motors has set itself the

target of having a production-readyfuel cell vehicle by 2010, though itmay not be committed to building it.Its target is to bring fuel-cell driveunits down to the $5000 cost of aconventional IC engine andtransmission, said the FT.

Toyota targets $50,000fuel-cell car

BMW dominates engine awards

Fuel-cell Toyota: availablefor $9500 a month

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 4:34 pm

capacity for 150,000 – and in Augustthis year the first of 300,000 engineswill start rolling off the lines.

Is this all for domesticconsumption?The vast majority of it is, although wesupply V6 gasoline engines fromShanghai to GM’s plant in Canada. Weare the first carmaker to export anengine in this manner.

How much of the production issupplied locally?There are rules on local content, whichalter province by province. But, forexample, at Shanghai-GM we average64 per cent. The obvious pressure is tolocalise the body-in-white andpowertrain, but there are someproblems: for example, there’s not agreat supply base for alloycomponents in China. But there areincentives for getting local content up.For example, from July 1, 2005 tariffson imported parts fall to ten per cent iflocal content is higher than 40 per cent.

And what about assembly of carsfrom kits?The rules are very complex in relationto CKD (complete knock-down) andSKD (semi knock-down) production. Infact the details of our CKD and SKD

arrangements are highly sensitive toour competitors, so we can’t give toomany details.

What role will PATAC (Pan AsiaTechnical Automotive Centre) playin future model development?PATAC is a joint venture with ShanghaiAutomotive Industry Corporation(SAIC), the Chinese company that isalso our partner in our Shanghai-GMfactory. PATAC has a staff of 900 mainlyengineers, but including 74 designers,modellers and computer operators. Wecan develop new cars there and wehave designed four concepts.

Was PATAC involved in the latestconcept, the ALA.s?Yes, the ALA.s (Action Life Activitysedan) was completely designed anddeveloped in China, the first timePATAC has carried through a designusing purely digital techniques. Tobuild the final, full-scale model, we justtransmitted the data to a specialistbody-builder in Italy.

How important is PATAC indeveloping China-specific models?In future we will expand the number ofvehicles designed and engineered inChina. The ALA.s, for example, isinspired by traditional Chinese culture.

How widespread are GM’soperations in China and AsiaPacific?Across the whole region we have 15factories and four R&D centres,employing nearly 9500 people, and wesell eight brands in 13 countries. This isa considerable investment because inthe next ten years we expect 57 percent of the global growth in car salesto come from Asia Pacific.

How important is the Chinesemarket?Extremely. In China alone we have sixfactories and an engineering centre,PATAC in Shanghai. And in the sameten years (2004 - 2014), China’s carmarket will expand by 6.5m units –that’s three times the next biggestmarket rise, in the US.

And where are your factories?Liaoning province in the north-east,Shangdong province in the mid-eastand Shanghai in the south-east are runby Shanghai-GM. We also have a lightcommercial vehicle and car plant inLiuzhou, which is run by SAIC-GM-Wuling.

And your production?In Liaoning it is 50,000 units,Shangdong 100,000 plus 375,000engines and in Shanghai 300,000 splitequally between two plants. OurWuling venture makes 270,000vehicles. Wuling is about to go througha major expansion, with a new plantcoming on stream next January with


In June 2004 Troy Clarke was named president of GM AsiaPacific, the region expected to provide over half of allglobal car sales growth in the next ten years. Eager foreverything from mini-commercials to Cadillacs, Chinesecustomers like to pay cash and are now beginning toappreciate locally designed cars, he told Julian Rendellat the Shanghai auto show

RQ Interview – Troy Clarke

GM’s assault: Cadillac and Chevrolet Aveo(right), and, top right, the strong-selling Wulingmini-commercial and the ALA.s sedan, the firstcar designed and developed in China.

GM’s Asian ambassador

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

Cadillacs. This year we’ve got 10.4 percent market share with 132,401 sales.

Is launching the Cadillac luxurybrand a risky venture in adeveloping market?The luxury market in China is wellestablished. Audi sells 60,000 A6s ayear alone, Mercedes-Benz 15,000 orso and BMW is present as well and themarket is expected to double toaround 300,000 cars a year by 2010.Rolls-Royce has a dealership inShanghai; Ferrari has two. Audi’ssuccess has been with governmentbuyers, but we’re targeting individuals.Hence our sales slogan: “Dare to beFirst”. We’ve had 8000 sale leads sinceJanuary and sold 1000 cars so far.

What’s the reality of selling cars in China?Most purchases are with cash; carfinance is only just taking off. Andthere are very few part exchanges.There’s hardly a used market at all.Private buyers tend to save up first andthen keep the car for a long time. Thereare plenty of other differences towestern markets, too. For example,there’s no established infrastructure forchecking credit histories and gettingsecurity for the loans is different underChinese law compared to western law.GMAC has a joint venture, again withSAIC, and we have about 1000contracts and no bad loans yet.

How affordable are GM’s cars?They are becoming more affordable forthe growing middle class in China. Weestimate that there are 150 millionpeople with a salary of at least US$3000per year and our entry-level Buick Sail ispriced from 68,800RMB, or about


Its body finish was inspired by theshiny surface of Chinese jade and thedashboard is in the shape of a ruyi, asymbol of good fortune in China.PATAC will play a more and moreimportant role in providing productstailored for China.

Is there a link with GM Daewoo inSouth Korea?We are building this up. The newChevrolet Aveo sedan is a goodexample of co-operation between thetwo. The platform is from GM Daewoowhile the styling is by PATAC. This carwill be built in South Korea, go onglobal sale from late this year andeventually be sold in 120 countriesaround the world. Incidentally the Aveois the first global production vehiclelaunched at a Chinese auto show.

How about the engineering ofcurrent models?The Buick Regal is styled quitedifferently to the US version, almostwith a European theme to the styling.That’s in response to Chinese marketdemand for cars with local appeal. Ithink leveraging the advantages oflocalisation by PATAC is giving us anadvantage over our competitors.

So local engineering and styling istranslating into better sales?The Chinese consumer is wellinformed and they like cars styled totheir tastes. The Epica and Excellesedans and GL8 minivan are tuned in asimilar way and we’ve seen sales climbover the last six years. When westarted in China in 1999, we sold just19,826 of the Buick Century, our solemodel. Last year we reached 252,053units with 10 models, including two

US$8,500. So, in China while it stilltakes some significant savings byfamilies to purchase their first vehicle, acar purchase is no longer out of thequestion. In fact, we we are beginningto see is that first time customers arecoming back to purchase secondvehicles, so again, something thatwould have sounded far-fetched severalyears ago – the ownership of two cars –is within reach now for a growingnumber of our customers in China.

That’s still a big financial task fora huge part of the population.Yes, that’s why the mini-commercialsmade by GM-Wuling are important.They account for more than a quarterof the entire Chinese car market andthe cheapest of the small minivanscosts just over US$3000. They doubleup as commercial vehicles for tradersand farmers in the week and familytransport at other times.

In future this will decline?No, our forecast keeps them at about 20 per cent over the next ten years. Thisyear that means nearly a million units.

Troy A Clarke

June 2004 President of GM Asia Pacific

June 2002 GM group president of manufacturing and labour relations

January 2001 Vice president of labour relations

December 1997 President and MD of GM de Mexico

June 1997 Director of manufacturing, GM de Mexico

“We are proud about where we are and confident aboutwhere we need to be. This year we have an aggressivelaunch strategy with 40 new model and variant launches”

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm


When GM and AM General decided to upgrade the iconic HUMMER H1with a larger and more powerful diesel engine, they turned to Ricardo inDetroit, who had earlier helped bring the highly successful H2 vehicle intobeing. Jeremy Burne reports

Hummer H1

aattttaaiinnss nneeww hheeiigghhttssHHUUMMMMEERRHH11

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

Vehicle (HMMWV) commonly knownas the “Humvee”, but consumers werenot going to use the vehicle to go towar. Amenities such as stereos andair conditioning are more importantto retail customers than the ability tomount rocket launchers to thevehicle.

As with any other vehicle afteryears of service, it became desirableto refresh and upgrade the product.AM General and General Motorsdecided that the H1 deserved a newlease on life and that the HUMMERbrand would benefit. The result wasthe H1 Alpha, which sported a host ofimprovements and refinements.Many of the changes stemmed fromthe vehicle’s new engine, the 6.6 litreDuramax Turbo Diesel and the new 5-speed Allison transmission. Havingworked with Ricardo on the H2programme, both GM and AMGeneral were familiar with the

There is no vehicle on the roadtoday that quite compares tothe HUMMER H1. Nothing is

quite as big and brawny. Nothingelse has quite the same rugged off-road capability. Nothing else has thepure military DNA.

While in industry terms the H1remains a niche vehicle, it is not onethat flies under the radar. The H1 wasthe inspiration behind GMdeveloping the HUMMER brand, andalthough the H2 and the new H3 aremuch higher volume products basedon GM truck platforms, the H1 is theflagship of the HUMMER brand, andits military heritage is the bedrock ofthe brand’s image.

When the H1 was first introducedto consumers, the manufacturer, AMGeneral, made some adjustments forthe retail market. After all, the H1 wasbased on the US military’s HighMobility Multi-Purpose Wheeled


company’s powertrain expertise andselected Ricardo to work on theintegration of the new engine in theH1 Alpha.

Dan Cowan, senior programmemanager at Ricardo, described theRicardo contribution:

“We are viewed as the powertrainsystems integrator for thisprogramme, but we were alsoresponsible for the validation plansand the whole [product] launchprogramme. We believe the reasonwhy General Motors and AM Generalchose Ricardo was their confidence inour wide ranging abilities andtechnical depth. These include vehicleengineering, powertrain engineering,driveline engineering and production,and prototype manufacturing andassembly. We also demonstratedefficient use of analysis tools andsoftware systems – this saves ourcustomers a lot of time and money.

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

instrument panel that were directlyrelated to the diagnostic capabilityand functionality requirements of thenew powertrain. The powertrain isOBDII certified, so we needed someextra check lights. Allison asked us toput in a transmission temperaturegauge. There were also notablechanges in most of the driverinterfaces.”

The H1 gets tallerReplacing a 6.5 litre engine with a 6.6litre engine might not appear to betoo great a challenge – but things arenot always as they seem. It wasdetermined at an early stage that theengine would not easily fit in theengine bay and that the vehicle bodywould have to be raised two inches toprovide adequate clearance. As aresult, the Ricardo, GM and AMGeneral engineers had to reconfigure


chassis interface. There were changesto the fuel, induction, exhaust andcatalytic converter systems. Thepowertrain electrical system waschanged from analogue to digital,meaning several new wiringharnesses were needed. The coolingsystem was also totally redesigned.

Early in the programme, a teamfrom Ricardo was embedded with AMGeneral in the Detroit suburb ofLivonia and stayed there for the bestpart of the next two years to ensureclose co-operation. In fact, the Ricardoteam virtually became an extension ofAM General staff for the duration ofthe programme.

Ricardo’s chief programmeengineer, Tom Reedy, had workedextensively with AM General and GMwhilst delivering the H2 project andwas well positioned to undertake thechallenges associated with the newH1 Alpha development.

“The focus of the project was tointegrate an existing and proven GMtruck powertrain into the H1. Thecombination of the Duramax Dieseland the Allison 1000 seriestransmission exists already inChevrolet’s and GMC’s 2500 and 3500pickup truck series. In the H1, it offersmore power, more torque and morerefinement, giving the H1 enhancedperformance. The programme focusedon integration of the new powertrainand ensuring it was emissionscompliant until 2007, at which pointfuture 2007 heavy-duty vehicleemissions requirements will start toapply. AM General provided Ricardowith additional resources notpreviously budgeted to make thepowertrain and other changes thatwere required for commercialapplication refinements. Theopportunity was taken to improvemany aspects of the vehicle, and areal effort was made to improve theNVH characteristics, particularlypowertrain and driveline NVH.

Tom Reedy details some of theknock-on changes that were made asa direct result of the new powertrain:

“AM General were working on anew interior for the H1, so we had towork in harmony with AM Generalsince some aspects of the newpowertrain impacted on their work.For example, there were new buttons,controls and gauges on the

Hummer H1

HUMMER H1 Alpha

SPECIFICATION• Duramax 6600 turbodiesel V8• Capacity: 6599 cc• Injection: direct common rail• Max power: 300 hp

@ 3000 rev/min• Max torque: 719 Nm

@ 1500 rev/min• Max engine speed: 3250 rev/min• Transmission: 5-speed Allison

1000 auto

PERFORMANCE• 0 – 60 mph acceleration: 13.5 sec• Can scale 22-inch rock ledge• Can ford 30 inches water• Can climb 60 per cent grade• Can traverse 40 per cent

side slope• Minimum ground clearance

16 inches

Upgrading the H1 with the new engine meantsubstantial changes to accommodate the largerpower unit. Even the electrical system had tobe switched from analogue to digital.

“We are viewed asthe powertrain systems integratorfor this programmebut we were alsoresponsible for the validation plans andthe whole launchprogramme” Dan Cowan, Ricardo

In particular, the cooling system wasan area of concern that Ricardo wasasked to revise – there were someheavy constraints as to what could bedone, so it required some ingenuity tocome up with a solution.”

Integrating the new powertrainThe new H1 Alpha offers customers ahost of improvements over itspredecessor, from interiorrefinements to the new Duramaxpowerplant and the Allison 1000transmission. Although the plannedchanges made to the vehicle centredon the integration of the newpowertrain, unanticipated knock-oneffects had to be solved on the fly asthe programme proceeded. Somesounded simple - the new powertrainmeant new buttons, controls, andgauges for the dashboard. Otherswere more far-reaching – toaccommodate the new engine, thevehicle body was raised two inches,reconfiguring the entire body and

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

the entire relationship between thepowertrain, body and chassis frame.They had to be certain that anychanges did not degrade mountingand structural performance, groundclearance, approach angle, rampangle or departure angle.

Tom Reedy: ”To clear the top rear ofthe Duramax engine, where theengine housing is quite high upbecause of the turbocharger and heatshields, we had to raise the bodyheight. We could not degenerate theground clearance because of the H1’sextremely rigorous off-road criteria. Inorder to protect ground clearance, weset the engine up using as a startingpoint the same centreline ofcrankshaft at the back face of the blockas the old engine. That quickly gave usan engine position that was realisticand most effective.”


The ground clearance issue alsorequired the team to work with GMPowertrain and Isuzu in Japan toengineer a new low-profile sumpsystem and implement several otherengine changes. This requiredextensive validation on a dyno atIsuzu and in the field using class 4 and5 off-road trails in Moab, Utah.

While raising the body height was abig decision, there were other areasthat needed to be addressed. Forcommercial and technical reasons, theteam worked with AM Generalengineers to revise the majority of thechassis frame system including all ofits crossmembers, the powertainmounts, and the steering systemmounts. The induction system waschanged to get the optimum flow andpressure for the engine. The engineersdetermined that they needed a high

flow induction system – a clean-sheetdesign. The team worked very closelywith the induction system vendor tomake sure the system was just right.They also changed and re-routed thecomplete exhaust system, moving tolarger 3-inch (75 mm) and 4-inch (100mm) diameter pipes to get the correctflow and appropriate back pressure.

DrivelineAt the same time, the team had tolook at some significant changes toother driveline components. As thenew powertrain package wasphysically larger, it was necessary tointroduce a completely new frontpropshaft, which required doublecardan joints as opposed to singleuniversal joints, to allow for the largerdriveline angles. From an axleperspective, the existing 2.56:1 axle

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

required Ricardo to work closely withDana to develop low motion transfererror (MTE) gears by close matchingthe ring and pinion system. Thisresulted in a significant reduction inaxle gears motion transmission error.

The Ricardo team worked on theoutboard geared wheel hubs, whichare a characteristic of the H1. Previousstraight-cut spur gears were replacedwith helical-cut gear sets to reducethe gear growl noticeable duringvehicle deceleration.

Upgraded electrical systemThe previous H1 had an electricalsystem that was based on ananalogue electrical architecture. TheDuramax engine is a GM Class IIdigital powertrain with digital engineand transmission controls, so it is notsurprising that some work needed tobe done on the vehicle electricalinfrastructure to make the powertrainsystem work in the truck.

Tom Reedy: “We had to establish the‘least pain’ route for doing this – leasttime, least cost. One option was tocreate a body control module (an A/Dand D/A converter) and everything

customers. RodHall, who races

HUMMERs in thegruelling Baja desert races, tried outan early production version of thenew geared fan drive system in one ofhis race vehicles and went on to winthe 1000 mile race.

Another benefit of Ricardo’schanges to the cooling pack was thatthe vehicle’s towing capacityincreased from 5000 lbs to 7000 lbs –a valuable selling point to HUMMERconsumers.

At the plantRicardo engineers not only helpeddevelop the vehicle but they werealso on hand to support the plantlaunch, from pilot builds through to

would go through that asa funnel backwardsand forwards as atotalcommunicationsystem. Thiscould have beenvery problematichad not Delphistepped in tosupport thedevelopment of acustomized EngineControl Module solutionfor us. “

Geared fan driveOne of the key componentsthat changed as a result of thecooling pack modelling (see panel)was the radiator cooling fan. In theH1, the radiator lies at an angle, ratherthan in the conventional uprightposition. The solution required aGeared Fan Drive (GFD) that created amuch higher level of efficiencybetween the fan and the radiator sothe fan required less energy to suckair though the radiator.

The system was designed byRicardo DTS (Driveline andTransmission Systems) in the UK –and all prototypes and initialproduction units were made byRicardo until a production suppliercould be brought up to speed.Designing, validating andmanufacturing this unit within fivemonths was quite an undertaking,given that the usual timeframe forsuch development is 12 to 14 months.

This GFD solution is not onlyeffective for AM General’s commercial


With a new 6.6 litre engine producing 300 horsepowerand 520 lb-ft (705 Nm) torque, it is not surprising that thecooling system would also be an issue for the AMGeneral and Ricardo engineers to resolve. Heat rejectionfrom the Duramax 6.6 litre is significantly greater than forthe previous 6.5 litre engine – so as a result a largercooling pack was needed, incorporating six separatecomponent-specific coolers.

As Reedy explains, “We knew that the old enginecooling fan, at wide open throttle, was capable ofdrawing about 4200 cubic feet (120 m3) per minute of airthrough the cool pack. Clive Hughes and his ThermalSystems team at Ricardo did some early comprehensiveanalysis work and determined that we needed to drawmore like 7900 cubic feet per minute through the coolpack to get the right amount of heat rejected. The big

problem was we had a fixed volume available for thecool pack due to vehicle constraints. There was a radiatorcooler, a charge air cooler, an AC condenser, a fuel cooler,a transmission oil cooler and a transfer case cooler – allthose things had to be stacked up in series in the coolpack, a difficult scenario to manage.”

The thermal systems team executed a suite of analysesto model the whole vehicle cooling system in virtualspace. Ricardo’s proprietary analysis software allows itsown engineers and its customers to set up a totallyintegrated, holistic thermal system model of powertrainheat rejection. A number of software tools are linkedtogether so a complete system model can be run in avirtual wind tunnel.

Tom Reedy: ”We can simulate the vehicle climbing asteep grade with a loaded trailer and four passengers

Hummer H1

“The end effect of three months ofmodelling work wasa fully working virtual model of the entire cooling system.” Tom Reedy, Ricardo

The new Duramax engine (above) is longerand taller than the outgoing unit; Ricardodesigned, validated and built the upgradedcooling system within five months.

Redesigned Cooling System

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm


and we can see how much heat the powertrain is rejecting,we can see what the airflow coming in through the front ofthe vehicle is doing, we know how much air we are gettingthrough the cool pack, and finally how much heat we arerejecting. Then we can begin to work on the size, shape andplacement of the coolers to get the optimum amount ofheat rejection. We did this using the Ricardo VECTIS CFDpackage in the form of a virtual wind tunnel. We linked thisto a package called FLOWMASTER™, which is a 1Dhydraulic and thermal analysis package, and EASY5, whichallowed us to model the vehicle driving under variousloads and conditions. The end effect of three months ofmodelling work was a fully working virtual model of theentire cooling system. This approach allowed us to sizecorrectly the first prototype parts. During our first thermaltest trip to Death Valley in California, the vehicle met itscooling requirements.”

Job One Launch and for the firstninety days of production. Thisincluded having a staff member onsite at the plant as a liaison engineer,as well as whole team support everytime a vehicle was built. As a result,any problems could be solved rapidly,and any design changes that neededto be made to help the production linecould be expeditiously implementedand released. Within six months, allengineering-related build issues hadbeen resolved.

Customer satisfaction Richard Fanco, chief engineer of theH1 Alpha programme, workedextensively with Ricardo during thedevelopment of the new truck.

an important issue with an on/off roadvehicle like ours.

“NVH has always been a focal pointwith the vehicle. Whether it waspowertrain, driveline or road noiserelated, reducing noise has alwaysbeen a goal. Ricardo’s NVH expertiseallowed for co-ordination with ourgeared hub supplier and converting toa helical gear design gave us twothings – additional strength andreduced noise. The Ricardo team alsoworked with our suppliers to reducepropshaft and axle vibration and noise.”

“In addition, some of theprogramme management tools thatRicardo brought to the programmeworked very well – they had a numberof tracking systems and procedures inplace that were very useful in theprogramme. We at AM General arestarting to incorporate some of thesetools, tailored to our needs, into otherAM General programmes. The factthat Ricardo provided in-housesupport on this programme providedfor a good interface opportunity.”

The Alpha performsH1 fans and customers will be pleasedwith the numerous improvements thatthe GM, AM General and Ricardo teambrought to fruition. With a 46 per centincrease in horsepower, an 18 per centgain in torque, reduced cabin noise, an18 per cent reduction in 0-60 mphacceleration time and an improvementin fuel economy, the new H1 attains anew level of refinement andperformance – without, of course,compromising one iota of its famedrugged military heritage and off-roadcapability.

“The HUMMER H1 Alphaprogramme would have normallybeen done on-site with AM Generalresources. Due to timing, AMGeneral’s full focus was on ourmilitary customer products. Weneeded a consulting group that wouldwork on-site so our engineering staffcould provide guidance in a VSE(Vehicle Systems Engineer) role andallow our engineering staff tomaintain full focus on our militarycustomers’ needs.

“While working on upgrading themilitary HMMWV, we recogised thatthere were some features that could beincorporated into the commercialvehicle programme. One of these wasthe geared fan drive – cooling is always

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm


Though they are convenientlylumped together under thegeneral auto industry heading,

the businesses of building passengercars and making heavy goods vehiclesand construction machinery havedeep-seated differences in the waythey operate.

Relatively few car makersmanufacture large numbers ofvehicles, generally using their ownengines, transmissions and runninggear. Independent engine producersaccount for only a tiny fraction of thesupply. The heavyweight sector, bycontrast, is much more horizontallyintegrated, with many of the mediumand big players buying in their mostexpensive-to-develop engineering

JCB

Thanks to the global success of its bright yellow machines, JCB has becomesomething of a legend in the world of heavy-duty construction equipment.And, naturally, the determinedly independent, UK-based company sought theservices of Ricardo when it decided to develop an all-new generation ofengines to power its machines to 2020 and beyond. Tony Lewin reports

EARTH MOVE

elements from third-party producersof engines, transmissions, axlesand even differentials. Andwhen it comes to off-highway constructionequipment, the buying-inculture is morepronounced still.

So when JCB, whosebright yellow diggers,loaders and excavatorshave becomesomething of alegend in the worldof heavy-dutyconstructionequipment,announced in2003 that it

MMaakkiinngg tthhee

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm


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“Joseph Bamford was a fineengineer and had a dream of makinghis own engine,” explains groupengineering director Dr Tim Leverton,“but he was also a businessman – sohe didn’t want to do it at any price butonly if there was a proper businesscase.

“Going into production with ourown engine is the strategically rightthing to do for us because we areapproaching a market share of aroundten per cent of the world market,”continues Dr Leverton. This makes us amajor player in the constructionequipment business.”

And for JCB, as Dr Leverton oftenreiterates, the over-arching companystrategy is to listen to its expandingranks of customers around the worldand to respond to their wishes. This ishow JCB’s range of machines hasexpanded from a handful in the 1960sto today’s 186, spanning everything

was developing its own family ofengines, the reaction amongengineers, in the industry and in theCity was one of surprise. The UK-based company, though growing fast,was only in fifth place in the globalrankings at that stage, and an in-houseengine represented a majorinvestment, both in terms of cash andcorporate kudos.

JCB had been enormouslysuccessful using bought-in powerunits, argued some, so why should itsuddenly want to gamble millionsdeveloping its own?

The answer lies in JCB's growingstrength in the global constructionequipment market. The company hadbecome the world's largest privatelyowned construction equipmentmanufacturer and growing salesvolumes dictated that now was theright time to go into production withits own engine.

from micro excavators to heavyearthmovers: each successive modelhas been a direct response to demandfrom the market.

Along with the proliferation of itsproduct offer has come a parallelexpansion in the number and types ofengine needed; until the advent of thenew JCB444, all these were bought-inunits from third-party suppliers. And,equally inevitably, the specification ofeach off-the-shelf engine wouldrepresent something of a compromisebetween the conflicting requirementsof the many different customers andapplications it had to satisfy. Onceagain, JCB realised that developing itsown engine would give it a powerfulopportunity to provide its customerswith a dedicated power unit closelytailored to the specialisedrequirements of each of its principalmachine families.

Simultaneous developmentJCB knew the stakes were high andthat any engine bearing the JCB brandwould have enormous expectationsattached to it. The new engine was togo into JCB’s biggest-selling products,its signature backhoe loader andtelescopic handler, so it went withoutsaying that the design had to beworld-class standard in every aspectof its performance.

Those were the exactingrequirements that led JCB to contactRicardo in late 1998 to discuss settingup a feasibility study to confirm thestrategic and technical case for such afar-reaching move.

Ricardo had already supported JCBsome years previously on otherprogrammes, so the two teamsreached a rapid understanding ofwhat was needed of the first-ever JCBengine. The business case for a newgeneration of engines was becomingincreasingly clear, as Tim Levertonexplains:

“We have been making our owntransmissions for 25 years or more, sowe know about precisionmanufacturing. We have many


JCB

“Going into production with our own engineis the strategically right thing to do for us.” Dr Tim Leverton, group engineering director, JCB

MID 1990s

JCB revivesidea of building itsown engine

LATE 1998

Firstapproaches toRicardo

SPRING 1999

JCB givesRicardo go-ahead for fullfeasibility study

LATE 1999

Design phase begins

MID 2000

First conceptengines run

AN INDEPENDENTENGINE MAKER EMERGES

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

build these engines – a naturallyaspirated and a turbocharged version”,says Sharman. “That was remarkablyquick, especially as the enginesimmediately hit all their targets,straight out of the box. It was a verygood start to the project.”

Already, many of the keyengineering decisions that wouldmark out the new engine as alandmark design had been taken:

“At the very early stages we werekeen to come up with an enginearchitecture which would take usthrough the emissions and noiserequirements for the following 15years,” says JCB director of engineprogrammes Alan Tolley. “So thearchitecture came out of thoserequirements – hence the bedplateand four valve head and rear geartrain. Those were very early decisionswe made, and by incorporating themfrom the very start we ensuredminimum on-cost compared with aconventional design.”

Cost considerations were animportant focus throughout theprogramme and, according to Ricardo’sSharman, it was especially challengingto come up with a four-valve cylinderhead that would cost less to make. Thebedplate crankcase construction,incorporated to minimise noise andmaximise bottom-end durability, was afurther sophistication that had to becleverly thought through in order tokeep costs in check.

engineering competences, but what’shappened over the last ten years or sohas been the emergence of CNCmachining, which has meant that theinvestment entry cost of this hasreduced substantially as we don’tneed to buy transfer lines – wecan use CNC machines.”

“Our business has grownto the extent that ourcaptive volume affords abusiness case,” continuesLeverton, “and that has given usthe opportunity to strategically securethe future layout of our ownpowertrain.”

Yet, as a determinedly forward-looking programme the case for theambitious new generation of engineswould only hold water if those engineswere advanced enough to be severalsteps ahead of the emissionslegislation when they were launched,and if they could contain the potentialfor upgrading to future emissions stepsfor 15 or 20 years into the new century.

Though the engine was to be a cleansheet of paper design, the design briefwas pretty exacting, as GrevilleSharman, chief designer of heavy-dutyengines at Ricardo, recalls:

“The biggest challenge was to fitthe engine into the restrictedpackaging space.

“The length of the block was ourmain problem: to ensure durabilityand freedom from distortion wewanted to have coolant waterpassages between the bores. Withbore and stroke decided, this meantwe had to squeeze out lengthelsewhere.”

The performance, emissions andcosts targets were “very aggressive”,too, remembers Sharman.Nevertheless, the results of thefeasibility study proved encouragingand soon the new engine, which hadby now gained the project nameScout, was given the go-ahead forPhase Zero – the designing andbuilding of two engines asperformance demonstrators.

“We took nine months to design and


BUILTFOR HARD WORK

• JCBs typically operate for 2000 hours a year, equivalent to over 110,000 km a year in a car

• A car will cover 300,000 km in its lifetime, equivalent to 5000 hoursor 30 weeks of continuous running

• JCBs are serviced every 500 hours – equivalent to 30,000 km in a car

Throughout, Ricardo engineers andmanufacturing specialists workedalongside their counterparts at JCB toensure maximum efficiency inmanufacture, assembly and servicing.

By now the programme was firmlyinto its next phase. Still located atRicardo’s Shoreham Technical Centreon England’s south coast, a dozen JCBengineers and their Ricardocounterparts set about the task ofdetailed design and the complexanalyses central to any modernengine. Three versions of the 4.4 litredesign were developed – naturallyaspirated, turbocharged and turbo-intercooled, and each was optimisedfor manufacture. These units weretested in every possible way toconfirm their performance anddurability.

Production design itself The move from design todevelopment saw a switch of locationto a so-called ‘special projects’ unit atJCB, the existence of the engineprogramme still being a well-keptsecret. However, production itself wasnot to prove so straightforward – forthe simple reason that JCB did not yethave a factory in which to build theengines.

In August 2003 the companypublicly announced that it was tomanufacture its own engines, with SirAnthony Bamford, chairman, declaringthat "the JCB engine will give higher

MID 2001

Firstproductionisedprototypes built and tested

SEPTEMBER2003

JCB announcespublicly it is tobuild its ownengines

SEPTEMBER2003

Half-millionthJCB built

JANUARY 2004

Engineproduction site announced

MARCH 2004

First engineunveiled atBauma show

NOVEMBER2004

First productionengine comes off line

EARLY 2005

First units reachcustomersworldwide

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

preferences of its wide and variedcustomer base: engines can be closelytailored to specific applications in away that would have been impossiblewith an off-the-shelf engine. One ofthe first things JCB did was anevaluation of the customerrequirements – principally withinternal customers of JCB because ofthe confidentiality of the project inthose early stages of the project.

An excellent example of customer-wish becoming production reality isthe great emphasis the JCB444 placeson low-down torque.

“Particularly for loader applicationswhere you’re driving into the pile it’s areally noticeable performance benefitto have low engine speed torque,”explains Tim Leverton. “You need thatpush at that particular time as it’s hardto change gear: if you change gear youlose momentum and you can’t operateeffectively.”

Again, says Greville Sharman,Ricardo was able to design thesecharacteristics into the engine throughcareful matching of the diesel injectionsystems, valve timing and turbocharacteristics, as well as sophisticatedcombustion chamber shaping.

User feedback also influenced theconfiguration of the engine in terms ofthe high-power take-off, says Leverton.“We’ve got an 80 horsepower powertake-off as well as a lighter duty one tofit the requirements of the machines.It’s an extra feature which gives us theoption to drive the ancillaries or themain hydraulic systems from theengine rather than the transmission.”

Noise requirements also came outof that process, adds Alan Tolley.“Even then we knew there werelegislation steps coming along whichrequired noise to go down, so we hadto build that capability into thearchitecture of the engine.”

The focus on noise led directly to theadoption of a bedplate lower crankcaseconstruction for the JCB444 makingthe structure more rigid and cuttingraw noise emissions to industry-leading levels.

“Noise is a big issue for us, saysLeverton. “At the end of this yearthere’s a further 3dBa reduction step,so one of the focuses in the design ofthis programme was to have a lowemitted noise from the engine. Wehave very successfully achieved this.“

So successfully, in fact, that even thedevelopers were surprised by the results,as Alan Tolley recalls: “When we did theinitial noise testing on the first stage ofprototypes there was the famous graph

JCB

JCB – A CONSTRUCTIVEFORCE IN THE WORLD

• Founded by Joseph Cyril Bamford(JCB) in 1945

• Began in a single garage making agricultural equipment

• Launched the trademark excavator with hydraulic backhoe in 1953

• Ultra-successful 3C series appeared in 1960s

• Range now spans 186 models• Heavy products go up to 46

tonnes• JCB employs more than 5000

people and manufactures on four continents

• JCB built 37,260 units in 2004• JCB is currently world number

five, close behind Case New Holland and Komatsu

• JCB makes its own transmissions,axles, differentials and hydraulic rams

• JCB’s first in-house engine developed with Ricardo and launched in 2005

• The designation JCB444 signifies 4.4 litres and four cylinders

performance than existing enginesand also comply with futureworldwide emission requirements. Theengine when manufactured willenable JCB to supply the best possiblepowertrain package for its customers.”

Responding to customerrequirementsBesides giving JCB long-term strategicindependence, one of the key benefitsof JCB’s in-house engine programmeis that it allows the company torespond to the demands and

that Ricardo produced. It showed that wewere the quietest engine Ricardo hadever tested of this type.”

So quiet is the engine, says TimLeverton, that engine-related noise hasdisappeared from the sound profilepeaks and fan noise now dominates.“So now we’re into optimising the fansand cooling system.”

Emissions: another crucial hurdlePublished seven or eight years aheadof their implementation date, newemissions steps tend to cause panicreactions in the auto business asengineers declare dramatically thatonly exotic and invariably hopelesslyexpensive technical solutions canensure compliance. But as thedevelopment process unfoldsengineers often discover the newstandards can generally be met withsomewhat less costly technologies.

“For Tier 2 emissions for ourhorsepower category you don’t needfour valves,” says Alan Tolley. “Butwhen we were putting the programmetogether we didn’t know, for example,whatTier 3 emissions limits would belike. So we had to say that to meet Tier3 emissions we would need a four-valve head. As it turned out, you don’tneed a four-valve head for Tier 3 as theparticulate legislation has been lessstringent than was originallyexpected.”

“It was the right decision, I believe,”adds Tolley. “The key to it being theright decision was that the on-cost of afour-valve head over a two-valve issmall compared to what many othermanufactures have had to invest.”

Tier 3 rules, due in 2007, willhowever require much moresophisticated control of diesel injectionsystems over the complete speedrange, generally by switching tocommon rail with electronicmanagement. JCB and Ricardo arenaturally already on the case, eventhough there is some time to runbefore the new norms come into force.

“This will give us the opportunity toprovide different calibrations fordifferent applications,” says Leverton.

Tier 4 in 2012 will demand the use ofexhaust aftertreatment systemssimilar to those now appearing onheavy roadgoing trucks.

Into production – and into serviceThe search for a suitable productionsite ended in January 2004 with thepurchase of a facility at Dove ValleyPark in Derbyshire, just 13 km fromJCB’s main operations at Rocester.


55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

performance of the engine as it cameoff the pre-production facility. We wereable to start production effectively ontime – just two weeks later than ourplanned date. But when you plan adate years in advance, to be therewithin two weeks is really nothing.”.

A key aspect of the 444 project is thefact that JCB has acted as the hub of anetwork of high-quality technologypartners. That is manifested in therelationship with Ricardo, and withCosworth Technology, who do themachining. “That’s one aspect of theproject that is quite exemplary,”observes Dr Leverton.

Right from the very beginning of theJCB programme the integration of themanufacturing engineering and theproduct engineering was always verystrong. “I’m convinced that this is notjust a really excellent example interms of using such techniques, but it’salso one of the reasons why we havebeen so successful in introducing theengine,” says Dr Leverton.

“The quality we are achieving interms of right first times in-house isup at the high 90s, which is worldclass performance. For the launchphase of an engine, without beingarrogant, we really feel we haveachieved something good. And thatreflects back on everybody who’s beeninvolved in the fundamentalengineering of the engine.”


THE JCB ENGINE IN FIGURES

STAGE 2/TIER 2 EMISSIONS JCB444 JCB444T JCB444TACapacity 4.4 litres 4.4 litres 4.4 litresMax power @ rev/min 63 kW @ 2200 74 kW @ 2200 106 kW @ 2200Max torque @ rev/min 320 Nm @ 1300 425 Nm @ 1300 525 Nm @ 1300Fuel system Rotary mechanical Rotary mechanical Rotary mechanicalAspiration Natural Turbo Turbo intercooled

STAGE 3/TIER 3 EMISSIONS JCB444 JCB444T JCB444TA JCB444TAECapacity 4.4 litres 4.4 litres 4.4 litres 4.4 litresMax power @ rev/min 58 kW @ 2200 68 kW @ 2200 74 kW @ 2200 120 kW @ 2200Max torque @ rev/min 300 Nm @ 1300 390 Nm @ 1300 425 Nm @ 1300 650 Nm @ 1300Fuel system Rotary mechanical Rotary mechanical Rotary mechanical Common railAspiration Natural Turbo Turbo intercooled Turbo intercooled

Less than ten months later Job One –the first series production engine tobear the JCB logo – rolled off the endof the line to much celebration, justtwo weeks behind the date plannedseveral years beforehand.

“Normally, with a new engine, newmachinery and a new plant you expectproblems,” says Tolley. “But becauseof the effort we had all put in to designfor manufacture it all went verysmoothly. By using the same tools,processes and systems in theprototype build we had been able tofind the majority of the problemsearlier on and deal with them. Thateffort really paid off.”

Ricardo’s involvement had been

continuing throughout these phasesand extended right through to start ofproduction and days into volumebuild.

“There was a Ricardo engineer whoplayed a key role in the detailedmanagement of the problemresolution process for us,” recallsTolley. “We really focused hard onmaking sure all these problems wereclosed out. We went through threereliability phases leading up to theSOP, and we did have a number ofissues that came out of those phases.

“But what we were able todemonstrate going from the firstreliability phase through to the lastone was the improvement in the

“There was aRicardo engineerwho played a keyrole in the process for us”Alan Tolley, director ofengine programmes

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:50 pm

phases: efficiency testing, design andfunctionality review, comparative costevaluation, analysis of thetransmission control system and shiftschedule, vehicle based emissionstesting, and performance, driveabilityand fuel economy evaluation.

Efficiency testing is carried out on atransmission rig to determine thevalues of efficiency for each gearwithin the full range of inputconditions that the transmission cancover. Measurements are taken ofinput and output speeds and torques,as well as of oil temperature: theresults of this work are expressed interms of input conditions, powerlosses and efficiency.

The design and functionality reviewis a comprehensive process based ona meticulous strip-down of allcomponents and sub-assemblies, allof which are photographed in order toprovide a record of the assessment.The weight, dimensions and criticaldesign details of each component ofspecial interest are recorded, includinggears, clutches, torque converters andactuator systems. In order to fullyunderstand the design and controlstrategy, the hydraulic circuit istypically reverse engineered and aschematic generated together with full2D layouts of the transmission. Finally,a detailed durability assessment willbe prepared for the major componentsof the transmission in order todetermine its effective life for givenmodes of application.

The comparative cost evaluation isan essential element of thetransmission benchmarking process,enabling an understanding to begained of the commercial viability ofthe design. A bill of materials isgenerated and directional costestimates prepared based on differentlevels of production volume. Thisinformation is subsequently used in acost-down exercise, identifyingaspects of the design andmanufacturing processes which couldbe further optimised to reduce cost.

Capturing CAN bus dataThe analysis of the control strategyand shift schedule is heavilydependent upon the design andconfiguration of the transmission.Shift maps are investigated and thecharacteristics of the shift patternunder a range of extreme conditionsassessed. The quality of the driverinterface is also examined, as aredetailed operational features such asadaptive and lock-up clutch strategies.


Transmission Benchmarking

In recent years the range of availabletransmission technologies hasincreased across all market sectors –

a clear example of the benefit ofoptions once seen as the preserve ofpremium or specialist vehiclesbecoming available in volumemarkets.

At the same time the developmentof new and advanced controltechnologies is transforming theperformance of transmission systemsand that of the vehicles in which theyare fitted.

While automakers and transmissionmanufacturers will each tend to havetheir own preferred technologies andapplication strategies, it is essential insuch a dynamic market to have anobjective understanding of thestrengths and weaknesses of allavailable candidate solutions andcompetitor products on the market.Most automakers will already havetheir own in-house tear-downcapability for the analysis of specimenproducts, yet to fully understand theperformance of each transmission andvehicle combination the stripdownneeds to be both exhaustive andobjective. Achieving a true like-for-likeevaluation of each transmissionrequires a considerable investment ofresource. transmission strategy.

Independent benchmarkingIt is against this background thatRicardo has established anindependent benchmarkingprogramme of transmission systems,enabling customers to gain anunderstanding of all the latest designsbased on a thoroughly objective andimpartial assessment.

The benefits of this independentbenchmarking process areconsiderable. Customers are able toaccess an independent assessment ofcompetitor products as well as acompletely objective review of theirown products. For new and emergingtechnologies in particular, this canoffer a potentially much quicker routeto understanding the criticalparameters of the system and henceallows a much faster productdevelopment cycle. It enablesassessment of the likely investmentlevels required for manufacturing andprovides qualitative information onthe desirability to customers ofindividual features. As such, it canprovide invaluable in the process ofdetermining future strategy.

Six stage processThe transmission benchmarkingprocess developed by Ricardotypically comprises six individual

Shifting wwiitthh tthhee bbeessttTransmission choices have become a significant influencein customer purchasing decisions. Benchmarking offersautomakers an objective means of evaluating competitorproducts and technologies, as Anthony Smith reports

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:51 pm

transmission and signalsare not readilyaccessible without CANbus access).

In the final stage of thetransmissionbenchmarking processthe driveability, emissionsand fuel economy performance of thevehicle are assessed. A Ricardovehicle emissions test facility is usedto evaluate vehicle performance overstandard European homologationcycles. Using standard Ricardo CAEtools such as a generic vehicleassessment model, the transmission iscompared with other possiblesolutions within the same vehicle.

Products already benchmarkedThe primary focus of Ricardo’stransmission benchmarkingprogramme upon emergingtechnologies is clear from a review ofthe products for which reports havealready been completed. TheVolkswagen DQ250 DCT in the GolfR32 was the first application of a dualclutch transmission in a mainstreamproduction vehicle.

Similarly the Aisin AW TF-60SN wasthe first 6-speed automatic transversetransmission developed for frontwheel drive applications, and theJatco CVT3 is the highest torquecapacity CVT offered by that company.

Automated manual transmissions(AMTs) have been a particular area ofstudy (see panel left).

Future plansThe Ricardo transmissionbenchmarking team is currentlycanvassing customer views on a rangeof possible future projects. Theseinclude Mercedes’ first CVT, from the A-Class and used in both diesel andgasoline products. The Phase 1 reportof this transmission benchmarkingstudy is due for publication inSeptember 2005 and will incorporatethe design and functionality review, thesubjective vehicle evaluation, controlsstrategy reverse engineering and drivecycle and emissions vehicle test.

The Phase 2 report, which willinclude the efficiency testing and

performance, driveability and fueleconomy evaluation, is due forpublication in November 2005.

Also under consideration for afuture study is the BMW SMG3, thefirst 7-speed automated manualtransmission and one with a total of 11different ‘Drivelogic’ modes.Comparison of its performance, costand weight with upcoming dual-clutchdesigns is sure to arouse interest inthe engineering community.

By continuing to select state-of-the-art vehicles such as these for itstransmission benchmarkingprogramme, Ricardo ensures that itscustomers can gain a rapidunderstanding of the very latesttechnologies. This growingtransmissions database can provevaluable in target-setting for newapplications and concepts, ultimatelyhelping reduce time to market andimproving programme and vehicleperformance.

Customers interested in participating in these andother transmission benchmarking studies shouldcontact [email protected].

An objective driver response matrix,comprising measurements of vehicleaccelerative response to driveractions, is matched by a subjectiveassessment of the performance of thetransmission in terms of launch andshift quality and other customer-perceptible operational characteristics.

Vehicle CAN bus data is obtainedduring the objective testing phase ofthe work using Ricardo’s CAN variableidentification tool. This yields signalsthat the Transmission Control Unit(TCU) is accessing in its controlalgorithms, essential in modernmechatronic transmissions. (The TCUis typically embedded in the


Misc.9%

Clutch11%

Gears /synchros

22%

Shafts16%

Hydraulics andcontrols

20%

Bearings2%

Cases20%

Price/weight relationship of competing European C-segment vehicle transmissions

Example output from Ricardo costbenchmarking study of European

front drive transmissions. This is thedual clutch transmission.

Seven AMT Vehicles Benchmarked by Ricardo

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:51 pm

Is Mazda the design leader for theMazda6-size of vehicle?On Mazda6-based vehicles we clearlyhave the lead for the engineering.

So were you involved in the [US] FordFusion and other programmes?Yes, Mazda and Ford of North Americaworked closely together on that project.

Turning now to engines, where doesdevelopment of the different typestake place?The new I4 engine has Mazda leadengineering, and we have co-operation with PSA Peugeot Citroënon diesel engines – so for the Mazda3the 1.6 litre diesel engine is suppliedby Peugeot.

Who provides the diesel engine forthe Mazda6?That’s our own engine, as is the two-litre engine in the Mazda5. There,we’ve got the option of using aPeugeot engine, but at the moment,because we’ve got our in-housecapacity in place, it doesn’t makesense to be shipping engines fromEurope for a Japanese-built product.But it doesn’t mean we wouldn’t belooking at a PSA engine in the future.On the latest Mazda6 we’ve got ournew-generation diesel installed, withstate-of-the-art 180 MPa injectionpressure, multiple injections andvariable geometry turbocharger.

So is Mazda continuing to developdiesel engines?We’re continuing to develop this one,but it’s too early to say whether wewill go beyond this one. We’ll have tosee what goes on within the Fordgroup and with PSA.

RQ Interview – Joe Bakaj

As head of R&D, product planning and vehicle development atMazda in Japan, Joe Bakaj is architect of a world-class vehicledevelopment process that is now being implemented globallyacross the Ford group. Tony Lewin asks him about theinnovative system that can put a car in production in 12 months– without the need for any prototypes

Bringing the world up to speed


Mazda Verisa:developed in 12months

The Mazda6 architecture seems to beon almost every new Ford group carthese days. Is it a contender for theworld’s most-produced platform?That’s not one of the prizes we arenecessarily striving for. The VW groupcould probably claim that prize beforewe could. What we try to do thesedays is to share the majorcomponents, the architecture. Theconcept of sharing a completeplatform is not really valid any more –the industry has moved on and we’renot forced to keep the samewheelbase, the same tread [track] orthe same underbody parts.

What are your criteria for a commonarchitecture?Building the vehicle on the same linewould be one of the criteria. We alsolook at major high-cost componentsand how we can share those – inparticular the powertrain installation

and other very high investmentmodules. Often what prevents youfrom sharing powertrains is that theinstallation in the engine room isdifferent: to share a powertrain – thecomplete installation includingexhaust system and catalyst – youhave to have quite tight constraints onthe engine compartment, right downto where the battery is placed, wherethe air cleaner is, where the powersteering reservoir is going to belocated, where the ABS sensor islocated.

Are you moving towards consideringthe powerpack and its ancillaries as amodule?Yes, and that’s probably one of theareas where you can get the biggestpayback. The locations of all thoseitems need to be the same – it’s aquestion of physical packaging too.

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:51 pm

Will you build the successor to theMazda2 small car in Europe? Will thecar be engineered by Mazda or Ford?The decision on continuing to buildthe Mazda2 replacement in Europehasn’t been taken yet. On the currentMazda2 platform the engineering isEuropean, but it has been announcedthat Mazda is to take over theengineering of the B-car platformwithin the Ford group worldwide. Sothe next generation will beengineered with Mazda in the lead,but obviously with strong co-operation from Ford.

So is Mazda handling moredevelopment work than other Forddivisions?We’re handling a lot of globaldevelopment work at the moment,which makes sense as Mazda’sdevelopment process is a bit morestreamlined than the Ford process.We’re actually working with the Fordgroup right now to try and revise theFord development process to be moresimilar to Mazda’s.

What are the main differences in thedevelopment processes as theycurrently stand?At Mazda our time to market isprobably equal to the best in theindustry. An example of that wouldbe the Verisa, which we launched inJapan last May. That vehicle wasdone as a zero-prototype programme,so we went straight from design sign-off into production tooling, withoutany prototype phase. We wentstraight from computer into fullproduction – and we achieved that in12 months from design sign-off toproduction.


“I think the general principle of how to develop aproduct will work for any brand. It’s not brand-specific: it’s more a question of how you use yourcomputer aided engineering, and the discipline in theprocess prior to releasing the drawings ”

Is that something of a record?Toyota can do the same, and I thinkHonda and Nissan are catching up. Butcertainly it’s equal to the best that hasbeen achieved so far in the industry.

Is it a derivative or an all-new model?It’s a derivative of the Mazda2, but it’s all-new sheet metal and the interior is new.

Once you have gone into production,don’t you have to at least test thepre-production units?You obviously do some confirmationtests on the pre-production units –crash a couple, and run them. But thekey is that by taking out the safety netof building prototypes you force theengineers to do a very thoroughevaluation in the virtual world – withinCAE and CAD – and force a much moredisciplined evaluation and sign-off priorto the release of the final drawings.

What we actually found was that wehad less errors and issues in that finallevel of production tooling in theVerisa than we’ve had in a similarsized programme where we had builtprototypes.

We set a target of having 50 percent less changes, and we actuallyachieved 75 per cent less changes – soit is probably the highest qualitylaunch we have done.

What kind of things did you have tochange?They were very minor changes – wemoved a couple of spot welds,changed some interior flanges, anddealt with a couple of squeak andrattle issues we found when we testedthe vehicle. These are difficult tosimulate on CAE. There were no majorchanges; it was all small details.

Isn’t it quite scary, as it’s too late tomake certain changes?At that point if it was a major change –say the door didn’t shut properly andyou had to move the sheet metal –then it would have been a big issue.But we had none of those issues.

What did you learn from the minorchanges you had to make?What we did on this process as soonas we had launched the vehicle was togo and analyse why we couldn’t findthat issue before we released thedrawings. So obviously when we dothe next programme the aim is goingto be to eliminate even those types oferrors. That gives you an idea of whatMazda can achieve: what we’re tryingto do now is teach the Ford group andchange its process so they canachieve a similar level of efficiency.

How are you handling that?We’ve got a global team set up, withFord engineers both in the US andEurope, and with Jaguar, Volvo andMazda engineers working together todefine the new process.

Will the process work as well with aluxury Jaguar as it does for a Mazda2?I think the general principle of how todevelop a product will work for anybrand. It’s not brand-specific: it’s morea question of how you use yourcomputer aided engineering, and thediscipline in the process prior toreleasing the drawings. One exampleis that we used a 100 per centstamping simulation of every sheetmetal part on the car, and we also dida 100 per cent line-build of the car; wechecked every operator’s station forergonomics and buildability. In thepast we’ve used stamping simulationssporadically on some of the parts, butin order to go straight from drawinginto production tooling in a shortperiod of time you have to be verydisciplined and go through every part.That, we’ve found, really pays offbecause you find the errors earlybefore you’ve spent any money on thetooling. It’s definitely the way to go.

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EnglishHeritage,

the UKgovernment’sstatutoryadvisor on thehistoricenvironment,has unveiledone of itsprestigious blue plaques at the formerLondon residence of Sir HarryRicardo, FRS, celebrating the life andwork of one of the foremost engineersof the twentieth century.

The occasion was marked bymembers of the Ricardo family as wellas the senior management team ofRicardo plc, the company originallyfounded by Sir Harry and which stillbears his name today. While blueplaques have become part of theLondon landscape, celebrating themany famous figures from UK andworld history who spent all or part oftheir lives in the city, the recognitionof Sir Harry Ricardo is particularlynoteworthy in that he is the first

Mechanical Engineer to be honouredin this way.

Sir Harry was a true pioneer of theinternal combustion engine. His workmade a significant, lasting andpositive impact upon thedevelopment of the automobile.Educated at Rugby School andsubsequently Trinity CollegeCambridge where he studiedmechanical engineering, SirHarry took an early interestin the internalcombustion engine.During his time atCambridge hecontributed topioneering work inthe understandingof the problem ofcombustion knock.As a student at theage of 21 he filed hisfirst patent from theaddress at 13 BedfordSquare where he was bornand spent his childhood, and which isnow commemorated by the English

Heritage blue plaque.In 1915 Sir Harry Ricardo formed

Engine Patents Ltd, the precursor oftoday’s Ricardo plc. He made asignificant contribution to the thenwar effort of the country not least inthe development of a new engine forthe Mark V tank, whose superiorperformance and low smokeemissions transformed the tank into

an effective battlefield weapon.His work on fuels during the

early 1920s included thedevelopment of a

means of quantifyingthe performance ofdifferent fuelswhich became theforerunner oftoday’s Octanerating scale. His company also

pioneered theautomotive diesel

engine and wasresponsible for the engine,

developed in 1935, that powered theCitroën Rosalie, the world’s first

Global integration of Ricardo NVH Operations

Drawing upon its extensiveexperience in developing and

refining complete vehicles andindividual vehicle subsystems,Ricardo has been a longtime leaderin the provision of high-level NVHengineering services. In order tomeet the dual demands of thepressure from automakers for ever-shorter development timescalestogether with the complexrequirements of co-ordinatingincreasingly global engineeringactivities, the company is investingin continually improving theeffectiveness of its NVH testingoperations.

Jason March, global NVHmanager, commented: “In order tosustain our leading position in NVHengineering and to maximise thereturn on our testing facilities, weare constantly challenged to pushthe efficiency and capability limits ofour operations. This requires having

the right tools, processes and skillsdeployed across all of our technicalcentres.”

One of the developments whichMarch is currently putting in place isthe migration of a number ofdiffering legacy systems tostandardise global Ricardo NVHtesting systems on LMS Test.Labsoftware suites and LMS SCADAS IIIdata acquisition front-ends. It isplanned that this change willadditionally help to improve theadaptability and quality of NVHtesting wherever it is carried out.

The scalability and modularity ofthe test systems allow Ricardoengineers to transport them tocustomer test facilities and adaptthem according to the individualprogramme and individual testrequirements.

Just one of the innovations beingput in place, this upgrade andstandardisation of NVH test systems

throughout Ricardo’s internationalnetwork of technical centres will helpthe company to maintain its leadingedge in automotive NVH engineering.

NVH seminar set for OctoberThe next Ricardo seminar atShoreham Technical Centre isplanned for October 13th, 2005, andwill focus on passenger car NVHtechnology. Delegates will be treatedto a broad overview of thechallenges facing the developmentof ever more refined vehicles, andthe strategy and processes that havebeen developed to accomplish this.The seminar will cover the mainaspects of NVH development at avehicle and critical system level,including state-of-the-art approachesto target setting, sound qualityengineering and high appealgasoline and diesel vehicles.For more information [email protected]

Ricardo News

Blue plaque celebrates the life of Sir Harry Ricardo

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New Ricardo website launched Front end drive belt life prediction

The latest issue of the quarterlyon-line publication, RicardoSoftware & CAE Q3/2005,includes a feature describing theuse by Ford of Ricardo Software’sVALDYN product in thesimulation of engine front endbelt and chain drive systems.Engineers from the team at theDagenham Diesel EngineeringCentre describe how they aim touse this technology to assist inpredicting the operating life ofbelt drive systems at the designstage and hence optimise theplanned service schedule.

Also in the same issue, Ricardoexperts describe the use of theVECTIS CFD product in thesimulation of combustion andknock. Ricardo Software & CAE isavailable on-line atwww.ricardo.com/scae

In order to improve the accessibilityof information about Ricardo plc

and support the growing number ofservices offered on-line by thecompany, the corporate web site,‘www.ricardo.com’, has beencomprehensively upgraded. Theresult of a major developmentproject, the re-engineered site waslaunched in late June and

incorporates many advanced webdatabase technologies. While muchof the development work is behindthe scenes and necessary to pavethe way for the provision of futureon-line services, the new siteincludes a range of new featuresand capabilities which customersmay benefit from immediately.

Perhaps the most fundamentalchange is the ability for individualcustomers to personalise thecontent they prefer to browse, tocontrol the on-line services theyreceive and to subscribe to both on-line and printed Ricardopublications (including pressreleases, the Ricardo plc annualreport, and of course RQ magazine).A simple on-line registrationprocess is now all that is required toaccess and control a wide andgrowing range of services.

commercially available dieselpassenger car. Ricardo againcontributed to the war effort in WorldWar II, including assisting in thedesign of the combustion chambersand fuel control system of Sir FrankWhittle’s jet engine, and thedevelopment of an oxygenenrichment system for the Merlinengines of the RAF’s Mosquito nightfighters, which transformed theireffectiveness in intercepting incomingbombers. In 1949 the title of KnightBachelor was bestowed on Sir HarryRicardo by King George VI in

recognition of his services to theinternal combustion engine industry.Together with his company hecontinued to work on advancedautomotive concepts, taking an activeinterest until his death in 1974.

To celebrate the unveiling of theblue plaque at 13 Bedford Square,Ricardo plc arranged a cavalcade ofvehicles marking some of theachievements of Sir Harry Ricardo andhis company. These included a rareexample of the 1924 Type Z of LeZèbre Automobiles, a diesel CitroënRosalie and two more contemporaryvehicles whose development hasbeen supported by Ricardo plc: theJaguar X-Type 2.0D and the BMWMINI (see respectively RQ Winter2003/2004 and Autumn 2001).

Speaking at the unveiling of the blueplaque, Rodney Westhead, the presentchief executive of Ricardo plc, said:“Sir Harry Ricardo was one of theleading engineers of his time whosework has had a positive and lastingimpact for all of us. His pioneeringand innovative efforts in thedevelopment of the internalcombustion engine brought forward

Ricardo CEO Rodney Westhead unveils the blueplaque to Sir Harry Ricardo (left); Ricardochairman Marcus Beresford arrives in a historicvehicle with Dr Camilla Bosanquet, daughter ofSir Harry (right).

technologies which dramaticallyimproved the vehicle performance andfuel consumption, and which reducedthe emissions of the world’stransportation from cars and trucks toaeroplanes, trains and ships. In ourwork today perhaps the highestaccolade that we can aim to achieve isthat we keep alive the spirit oftechnical innovation, practicalengineering and entrepreneurialismfostered by Sir Harry Ricardo duringhis lifetime for the betterment of ourplanet for future generations to come.”

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 4:07 pm


Ricardo News

The 2005 Ricardo diesel reportpredicts a significant rise in US

light-duty diesel market penetrationover the coming decade. Sales in thelight-duty vehicle segment (up to 8,500pounds gross vehicle weight) areprojected to grow from a mere 43,000units in 2004 to exceed 1 million unitsannually by 2012, rising to 1.5 millionby 2015. This dramatic conclusion isjust part of the annual review ofselected international light-duty dieselmarkets published by Ricardo, ananalysis which draws upon thecompany’s unparalleled internationalexpertise in automotive dieseltechnology and extensiveknowledge of automotive markets.

In examining the US market, theresearch team has incorporatedan in-depth analysis of currentmarket trends together with anassessment of future consumertastes, legislative fuel quality andemissions standards, and the likelycommercial implementation of newand emerging technologies.

Cost remains an issueWhile diesel already enjoys a marketpenetration of over 56 per cent in theUS premium light truck sector(between 3/4 and 1 ton capacity), costremains a major issue for passengercars, light trucks and SUVs. Significantefforts are currently underway byRicardo and others to reduce engine-out emissions as well as in thedevelopment of more effectiveaftertreatment devices. With theimplementation timing of practical andcost-effective solutions likely to be oneof the principal drivers for further

diesel penetration, Ricardo predictsthat a rapid increase in diesel sales willfollow as such devices become bothreadily available and affordable to theconsumer from 2009 onwards.

Elsewhere, the global growth oflight-duty diesel sales continues apace,with 2004 posting the largest volumeincrease for a decade. The sales ratio ofdiesel to gasoline vehicles for thelarger manufacturers continues to

grow, led by Volkswagen which nowreports over 60 per cent of its car salesas diesels. In Western Europe, diesel carsales in 2004 continued to flourish in allof the major national markets, withoverall penetration reaching a recordlevel of over 48 per cent and with noimmediate sign of a slowdown. In thecontext of a marginally strengtheningpassenger car market in WesternEurope compared with that of 2003, a5.4 per cent decrease in gasoline sales

was more than offset by an 11.9 percent increase in diesel sales.

Valuable reference toolNow in its thirteenth year, the annualRicardo diesel report Diesel PassengerCar & Light Commercial VehicleMarkets in Western Europe has becomea valuable reference resource forautomakers, Tier 1 suppliers and othersinterested in the highly dynamic andrapidly developing market for dieselvehicles. The publication is packedwith information on trends in salesby country and by manufacturer, aswell as production within the region.Detailed market analyses areprovided for each of the major

Western European nations, togetherwith profiles of the diesel product

offerings of each of the majorautomakers.

The report provides valuable insightsinto future trends for the dieselmarkets of Western Europe and for the2005 issue, two additionalsupplements are available coveringrespectively the markets of Central andEastern Europe, and the United States.Priced at £495+VAT for the main report,£125+VAT for the US supplement and£100+VAT for the Central and EasternEurope supplement, the 2005 Ricardodiesel report can be purchased eitherdirectly from Ricardo InformationServices or on-line atwww.ricardo.com/ricardostore.

Vastly expanded US Light-DutyDiesel market predicted

Expanding potential: Ricardo study shows howdiesel car sales have grown across Europe (farleft) and how sales in the US will reachbreakthrough in 2009 (above). European marketshares for 2004 (below left) show continueddominance by VW-Audi group

55368 RQ 28PP 13/7/05 3:51 pm

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Smart Torquing

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TORQUE VECTORINGTM from Ricardo is the result of an entirely new approach to enhance dynamic vehicle stability. Developed to address the key issue of vehicle safety, especially for SUV applications, the technology is now being demonstrated to our clients worldwide.

Torque Vectoring offers improved on-road stability, lateral yaw dynamics, traction control and enhanced driving enjoyment. The system permits several modes of operation: Permanent AWD, On-demand torque bias from 100% FWD to RWD, all programmable to match driver preference and vehicle character.

To find out how Ricardo can assist with the application of TORQUE VECTORINGTM to your vehicle visit us at our website.

making the earth move · which forecasts us diesel sales of just under 1.2 million units in 2012....

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